IMO, traction and mincemeat shins go hand-in-hand. My kids use some decent Wellgos.
I bought them volleyball (slip-on) knee pads and some matching soccer shin guards, works
great for armour for little guys.

My kids are currently using Eastern CFR BMX platform Pedals. They seemed to help a ton over the stock ones that came on their bike. Jenson has them on sale right now for $5. Not the lightest pedal, but they were cheap and working for them.

My kids are currently using Eastern CFR BMX platform Pedals. They seemed to help a ton over the stock ones that came on their bike. Jenson has them on sale right now for $5. Not the lightest pedal, but they were cheap and working for them.

After reading from others using these I bought two pairs. They are light and the ends are rounded. Traction seems ok. It's tough because of the opposing functions of traction and safety, these are a reasonable compromise.

Work to Ride - Ride to Work
There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing...

I stick to the cheap kids sized plastic pedals. The pedals are so low to the ground on these bikes that I worry about pedal-strike induced crashes with bigger pedals. Kids don't always realize that leaning into corners while pedaling as fast as they can isn't a good idea. The plastic pedals don't have the best grip but pedal grip isn't the limiting factor in my kids riding.

A little late to the party, but these pedals have the best of both worlds;
pins, but with rounded nubs to prevent pin penetration. Low side profile (the width of a kid's foot) as well so they don't get caught on trail objects.

So far they have worked great for the kids & wife. Sealing is a bit poor tho.

Those Sinz are badass. I use the Wellgo M-111 with Ti spindles, as Asmodeus2112 linked to. The primary reason is because I don't want to destroy my kid's shoes or their shins. The other because I'm a full-on weight weenie for my kid's bikes.

IMKHE (In My Kid's Humble Experience ); his feet would blow off those during BMX racing. We even modded to make the teeth sharp - we wanted to keep them for the light weight, but it still happened. Just our 2¢.

IMKHE (In My Kid's Humble Experience ); his feet would blow off those during BMX racing. We even modded to make the teeth sharp - we wanted to keep them for the light weight, but it still happened. Just our 2¢.

Dunno about how they perform on the trail tho.

P

No, I wouldn't recommend the M-111's for BMX racing. But they seem fine for trail riding. My kids mostly ride in good conditions and we're just riding cross country, not down hill or anything. My son just turned 10 and is talking about going clipless, so they got him that far. Once the kid gets strong enough and good enough to handle the bike and avoid major shin/calf pedal contact I'll move them to more aggressive flats or clipless depending on the application and kids desire.

Work to Ride - Ride to Work
There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing...

Those Sinz are badass. I use the Wellgo M-111 with Ti spindles, as Asmodeus2112 linked to. The primary reason is because I don't want to destroy my kid's shoes or their shins. The other because I'm a full-on weight weenie for my kid's bikes.

Didn't know there were Ti spindles, where have you found those?

Work to Ride - Ride to Work
There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing...